Air Force Awards Robot Airship Contracts

The US Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has awarded to contracts for the
DARPA Integrated Sensor is Structure (ISIS) program to develop sensors
for 500 foot
long,
autonomous High
Altitude Airships (HAA) that stay aloft for years at a time. Lockheed
Martin received $8.8 million to develop a power system for the
stratospheric airship. Northrop
Grumman got $15.5 million for power systems and the Active Electronically Scanned
Array (AESA) sensor that will be bonded
directly to the hull material of the airship. The ISIS platforms are
intended to be able to track cruise missle up to 370 miles away and
"enemy combatants" (people) up to 200 miles away. The robot airships
would float in geostationary positions at 70,000 feet, safely above the
jet stream and severe weather. Helium would provide lift, while a thin
film of photovoltaic cells would charge fuel cells. Differential thrust
would be provided by electric props. Lockheed Martin has previously been
awarded $40 million in 2003 by NORAD, which wants 10 ships to cover the
continental borders of the US and another $149 million earlier this year
for development of a prototype. Some graphics of the proposed vehicle
can be seen on the HAA
page and in the Lockheed HAA
brochure (PDF format).

This seems like a rather lame idea from a military perspective, although
they could be very useful for commercial purposes. Airships are big and
slow, making them easy targets for missiles, perhaps fired from other
drone planes flying at high altitude.

However, as happened in the first world war a nation using airships
might gain a temporary military advantage.